Tumarkin

KISSIMMEE -- Danny Tumarkin, a fixture with the Orange-Osceola Public Defender's Office for 18 years, plans to resign at the end of next week. He is one of about half a dozen employees, including senior Assistant Public Defender Ken Komara, who have decided to leave as the newly elected Public Defender Bob Wesley, a Democrat, prepares to take office Jan. 2. Komara is based in Kissimmee and has worked for the office for 12 years, said retiring Public Defender...

KISSIMMEE -- Danny Tumarkin, a fixture with the Orange-Osceola Public Defender's Office for 18 years, plans to resign at the end of next week. He is one of about half a dozen employees, including senior Assistant Public Defender Ken Komara, who have decided to leave as the newly elected Public Defender Bob Wesley, a Democrat, prepares to take office Jan. 2. Komara is based in Kissimmee and has worked for the office for 12 years, said retiring Public Defender...

Shoney's shooting suspect Allen Hutchens, rid of his public defender, also hopes to shed the confession he gave police before he goes to trial next month.Hutchens, 61, a retired developer and former city council member from Oregon, is charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and discharging a firearm in public.Hutchens remains in the Osceola County Jail without bail in connection with a dinnertime shooting spree March 28 inside and outside the crowded restaurant on U.S. Highway 192.At issue Wednesday afternoon will be whether Hutchens was able to voluntarily waive his Miranda rights because he was under the influence of powerful tranquilizers.

A jury took less than three hours Thursday to acquit a man of manslaughter for shooting his drunken stepson during a fight last summer.The original charge was murder, but the State Attorney's Office reduced it to manslaughter caused by gross negligence when questions arose about whether Donald Sipes, 51, had intended to hurt Roy ''Bubba'' Stamey, 20.More questions arose in the two-day trial about what role Stamey, a 256-pound, former Osceola High School football...

Allen Hutchens, charged with opening fire inside a crowded Shoney's restaurant in an attempt to kill his wife, now has an unlikely witness on his side: His wife.Court records show that Bonnie Hutchens, 46, who was not injured in the March 28 shooting, wrote to her husband's court-appointed lawyer and offered her assistance. Jail records show she is on his approved list of visitors.''I would like to help in my husband's defense, so please contact me as soon as possible,'' Bonnie Hutchens wrote in a May 22 letter to Assistant Public Defender Danny Tumarkin.

An Indiana woman who told authorities she smothered her daughters at a Kissimmee hotel will remain under psychiatric care, a judge ruled Wednesday.Donna J. Brown, 36, of suburban Fort Wayne, is still ''severely depressed'' and a threat to harm herself, Circuit Judge Gary L. Formet Sr. said after the closed hearing held at Charter Hospital in Kissimmee.Formet ruled that Brown will remain at the hospital for at least another week. She is being held under the Baker Act, a Florida law that gives officials the authority to confine persons who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

An adverse reaction to a prescription drug may have prompted a 61-year-old Kissimmee man to fire several shots last month inside a crowded Shoney's restaurant, his attorney said Tuesday.Assistant Public Defender Daniel Tumarkin said he will use that premise to prepare a defense of temporary insanity for his client, Allen Hutchens, a time-share promoter charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault.Tumarkin asked Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. to appoint psychologist Bob Berland to determine Hutchens' sanity at the time of the shooting and his competence to stand trial.

A public defender argued Wednesday that his client cannot be guilty of first-degree murder because the man was too drunk to know what he was doing.Intent must be proven to convict Raymond Frankenreiter of the premeditated murder charge, and attorney Daniel Tumarkin said that won't be possible.''We're not talking about a man who drank a little too much,'' Tumarkin told the jury in Osceola Circuit Court. ''We're talking about a man who drank enough to put a normal man into a coma.''In the five days before the killing of 19-year-old Robert Woody, Frankenreiter drank about a dozen cases of beer, Tumarkin said.

Tonya Koller would be sentenced to 10 years' probation, banished from her home and required to get psychiatric counseling for abandoning her 2-year-old son, under a plea bargain announced Wednesday.The 25-year-old Kissimmee woman pleaded guilty in Osceola Circuit Court to felony child abuse. She had been scheduled to appear before Judge Belvin Perry Jr. to ask for a reduction in her $5,000 bail.Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, Koller stood handcuffed before Perry, answering questions in a meek voice.

Graphic videotape of a chunk of concrete being hurled at an undercover drug officer is expected to be shown today to an Osceola County jury deciding the fate of Morris Bill Allen Jr.Allen, 18, Kissimmee, is accused of trying to kill Kissimmee police Officer Rick White in April by pitching the concrete through an open window of the car White was driving.The trial is scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. and is expected to last just one day.If convicted of attempted murder, Allen would automatically receive a life sentence requiring him to serve 25 years before being eligible for parole.

By Annie Tin and Henry Pierson Curtis of The Sentinel Staff, September 17, 1994

A jury of five men and one woman convicted Miguel Lopez Jr. Friday of second-degree murder in the death of his father three years ago.The jury began deliberations about 5 p.m. and delivered a verdict in less than three hours.Under normal sentencing guidelines, Lopez would have faced a maximum of 22 years in prison, but Assistant State Attorney Jon Morgan said he will ask Circuit Court Judge Jose Rodriguez to consider sentencing up to life in prison because of Lopez's other crimes.Lopez Jr. was charged with the killing after investigators learned he fled to Colombia, then flew back to the United States and committed a series of robberies along the East Coast.

A public defender argued Wednesday that his client cannot be guilty of first-degree murder because the man was too drunk to know what he was doing.Intent must be proven to convict Raymond Frankenreiter of the premeditated murder charge, and attorney Daniel Tumarkin said that won't be possible.''We're not talking about a man who drank a little too much,'' Tumarkin told the jury in Osceola Circuit Court. ''We're talking about a man who drank enough to put a normal man into a coma.''In the five days before the killing of 19-year-old Robert Woody, Frankenreiter drank about a dozen cases of beer, Tumarkin said.

Prosecutors are charging a St. Cloud businessman with 81 new counts of sexual battery of teen-age boys.Patrick Chimento, 50, remains free on $2,500 bail following his October arrest on the 10 original counts of committing a lewd act on a child under 16.If convicted, Chimento, former owner of Pat's Pets on 13th Street, could face up to 15 years in prison on each count.The 91 counts center on two boys, 15 and 16 years old, who live in Chimento's former neighborhood and who say they were repeatedly molested between April 1991 and last October.

An Indiana woman who told authorities she smothered her daughters at a Kissimmee hotel will remain under psychiatric care, a judge ruled Wednesday.Donna J. Brown, 36, of suburban Fort Wayne, is still ''severely depressed'' and a threat to harm herself, Circuit Judge Gary L. Formet Sr. said after the closed hearing held at Charter Hospital in Kissimmee.Formet ruled that Brown will remain at the hospital for at least another week. She is being held under the Baker Act, a Florida law that gives officials the authority to confine persons who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

A crowd gathers at least once a month at the Osceola County Courthouse and surrounds a fast-talking man with a mop of curly black hair.On most days, the animated talker is a typical University of Florida law school graduate making his way as a public defender.The crowd, though, means it's misdemeanor arraignment day. Time for Daniel Tumarkin to become Osceola County's impresario of the constitutional right to a speedy trial.''If you're not guilty, no problem. We'll set your case for trial,'' Tumarkin, 35, told one face in the crowd in early December.

Shoney's shooting suspect Allen Hutchens, rid of his public defender, also hopes to shed the confession he gave police before he goes to trial next month.Hutchens, 61, a retired developer and former city council member from Oregon, is charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and discharging a firearm in public.Hutchens remains in the Osceola County Jail without bail in connection with a dinnertime shooting spree March 28 inside and outside the crowded restaurant on U.S. Highway 192.At issue Wednesday afternoon will be whether Hutchens was able to voluntarily waive his Miranda rights because he was under the influence of powerful tranquilizers.

Prosecutors are charging a St. Cloud businessman with 81 new counts of sexual battery of teen-age boys.Patrick Chimento, 50, remains free on $2,500 bail following his October arrest on the 10 original counts of committing a lewd act on a child under 16.If convicted, Chimento, former owner of Pat's Pets on 13th Street, could face up to 15 years in prison on each count.The 91 counts center on two boys, 15 and 16 years old, who live in Chimento's former neighborhood and who say they were repeatedly molested between April 1991 and last October.

Allen Hutchens wanted to dump his attorney.Instead, the man accused of attempted murder after a March shooting spree at a Kissimmee restaurant will have to work with the defense attorney he claims was incompetent.A circuit judge on Tuesday granted Hutchens' amended request to be co-counsel with public defender Danny Tumarkin.Hutchens, 61, lived in Oregon for 25 years, where he was a retired apartment developer, city council member and prison minister. Before his arrest, he was promoting timeshares in Osceola.

Allen Hutchens wanted to dump his attorney.Instead, the man accused of attempted murder after a March shooting spree at a Kissimmee restaurant will have to work with the defense attorney he claims was incompetent.A circuit judge on Tuesday granted Hutchens' amended request to be co-counsel with public defender Danny Tumarkin.Hutchens, 61, lived in Oregon for 25 years, where he was a retired apartment developer, city council member and prison minister. Before his arrest, he was promoting timeshares in Osceola.

Graphic videotape of a chunk of concrete being hurled at an undercover drug officer is expected to be shown today to an Osceola County jury deciding the fate of Morris Bill Allen Jr.Allen, 18, Kissimmee, is accused of trying to kill Kissimmee police Officer Rick White in April by pitching the concrete through an open window of the car White was driving.The trial is scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. and is expected to last just one day.If convicted of attempted murder, Allen would automatically receive a life sentence requiring him to serve 25 years before being eligible for parole.